Natick: Family pleads for help after florist Susan Lane lost limbs following rare illness

Friday

Aug 8, 2014 at 12:01 AM

By Kendall HatchDaily News Staff

NATICK – The family of a Natick woman and business owner who lost part of all four limbs after a debilitating illness is asking the public for help so she can come home to a house that is ready for her.Family members say Susan Lane, a Natick florist, is lucky to be alive after being blindsided by an infection that quickly spread throughout her body, shutting down major organs and claiming her hands and lower legs.Lane, 50, who has owned Flowers by the Depot on Main Street in Natick for 18 years, is in good spirits and her family is counting their blessings, but they’re also in a race against time and money to retrofit her home and make it ready for her return in a few short weeks.Jay Lane, Susan Lane’s son, said his mother started feeling sick on a Friday at the end of May. He said the two of them, who worked together at the flower shop had a normal day until his mother said she wasn’t feeling well.The next day, he said, she said she couldn’t go to work and asked him to take care of the shop while she laid low, thinking it was a bug that would pass like any other."She started getting a little fever, but it was manageable," Jay said. He said he checked on her later and then heard a crash coming from her room the next morning.Lane said that he went upstairs to find her hallucinating and vomiting blood. He rushed her to MetroWest Medical Center in Framingham, where they found she had a fever of almost 104 degrees. The doctors treated her and her fever began to go down, but her kidneys were having trouble and she was placed in the intensive care unit. Her temperature began dropping and Jay went back home.He said he was called back hours later, and was told that whatever type of infection she had, she was septic."They said that essentially she’s dying," Jay said. "She had some sort of infection that was taking over her body and her heart couldn’t handle it."Her heart stopped and she was clinically dead for about a minute, Jay Lane said.After doctors worked on her all night, she was flown to Tufts Medical Center on Monday. She spent the next three-and-a-half weeks in a coma, Jay Lane said.Doctors figured out that she had gotten strep pneumonia, which spread into her spine causing bacterial meningitis. She had a full-body bacterial skin infection from her renal system not working and developed necrosis in all four limbs, as well as her nose."Her legs and her hands literally were dying and poisoning her body," Jay Lane said. He remembered the doctors telling the family that "the chances of all of this happening was like her winning the lottery three times in a row."Susan Lane’s legs were amputated below the knee and her hands were amputated at the wrist, Jay Lane said. Part of her nose also had to be removed.Susan Lane was moved to Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital this week, her son said. He said that she is in great spirits."She’s been awesome," he said. "She has been so happy and hopeful and just overjoyed to be alive."Her progress, however, means that she’ll be coming home sooner than expected - probably in four to five weeks, Jay Lane said. He said the family is now in a race to raise money to pay for costly renovations to the home he and his young daughter share with Susan, in order to make it accessible for her.The family has set up a fundraising page atwww.youcaring.com/medical-fundraiser/support-susan-lane-fund/203793. Jay Lane said that the family has received some in-kind donations, but is also looking for volunteers who might be willing to help out with the renovations.Jay Lane said that people may contact him about volunteering or in-kind contributions by clicking the "contact the organizer" link on the fundraising page.Kendall Hatch can be reached at 508-490-7453 or khatch@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @Kendall_HatchMW.